The Hand Drawn Creative Blog

A Busy, Busy Week…

I've been busy doing cool stuff I love – that's the important thing! I've been drawing lots & lots of cool, rare guitars for a new project based on my earlier collection of five vintage guitars. I'll not go into all the details here, but I will give you a preview of all the guitar illustrations. This is why I haven't been writing any posts lately!

Vintage Fair Fun…

 

Yesterday's Vintage Fair (Frock Around The Clock) was a blast, I didn't break the bank by any means, but it was a great opportunity to meet up with like minded folks and catch up with old friends who flocked to the fair in their droves. I'd mentioned to many passers-by "do visit my website!", then later remembered you can't actually buy anything from here yet! So if anyone wants to buy one of the prints or postcards seen at the Fair, do contact me by email or telephone. And don't be afraid to leave comments on any of the posts here on the blog. 

The Hand Drawn Creative Stand! Manned by my ever glamorous assistant Jules (who also appears to be promoting San Pellegrino for some reason)

Oh Mighty Pencil…

 

Phew! Busy morning. I've been blazing through the morning finishing this illustration (you may have seen the rough sketch on the blog last week). Here's the full story… I've been a committed twitterer for about 3 or 4 months now; you can meet all sorts of interesting folks there. And I'm finding it's usually people of a more creative leaning that are using it. It's also great for following thramblings of very famous people like Jonathan Ross, Charlie Brooker (v. good), Stephen Fry etc. It's really, really cool if these famous people start following your own tweets. This happened to me last week. I was listening to Neil Halstead's excellent new album Oh Mighty Engine on the equally excellent Last.fm. Later that day I checked my Twitter stream and discovered that Neil was following my tweets! Okay, so it may not be all that exciting to everyone! But it definitely cheered up my day, and I thought to myself "I must do an illustration for him"… you know, just to say thanks. So here it is, the finished article. I do hope he likes it!

New Product!

Yay! It's the Frock Around The Clock Vintage Fair at Belfast's prestigious Wellington Park Hotel on Sunday 15 February! I for one am very much looking forward to it as I'll be there (in person) representing Hand Drawn Creative Worldwide® and exhibiting its full range of luxurious illustrated products! Vintage Fair hostess Becky Moore promises a jam packed day out for anyone interested in Vintage fashion & culture. I'm personally looking forward to the Ulster Lambretta Club exhibition and the Ashby Gents retro hairdressing demos! I'll have my Vintage Collection guitar prints on display along with my latest postcard releases;

Vintage Motorcars…

and Vintage Glam Girls

If you live in the Greater Belfast area and like really cool stuff, I guess I'll see you there! The fun begins at 10.30.

Mac Break…

It's not often I think of working my pencil sketches up to a detailed level, but I've been working on a personal piece today and I thought I'd just let fly with the old Pentel 0.5 propellor and see where it goes. I'd forgotten how relaxing it can be just drawing and staying away from the Mac for a few hours. I've scanned the sketch and placed it here for you all to see. I might just dig out some of my pencil & ink sketches from college days for display soon.

New HDC Logo revealed!

I'm so bored with my existing logo! And if I want a new logo, then I'll have a new logo! Oh god, this is what happens when Designers get bored I suppose. I found this great typeface Megalopolis online and then… well, you what I'm like with type. I didn't get called Little Lord Fontleroy because of my love of purple satin breeches. So I did the blog header and just couldn't stop. So here it is; the all-new HDC logo with secondary colour variations & everything! Expect a new logo at the end of March! Jeez, why can't I just leave things be!